President and partner 'have no marriage plans'

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Live-in partner of German President Joachim Gauck, Daniela Schadt, has said she does not intend on getting married, though she knew for some this is was problem, it was revealed in an exclusive interview.

The piece, to be published by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Sunday, is the first big interview since Gauck was elected president nearly a year ago.

In it, Schadt says she can understand the debate surrounding her unmarried status as the live-in partner of the German president, saying she realizes for some people it is really a problem.

“But it remains the same as what I've always said: It is unusual and for some it is an affront, though we don't want to propagate a certain role model.

But the family can live with that and therefore we can live with that and I think we can leave it as it is,” she said.

Gauck remains married to the mother of his children, but has lived for years with Schadt, a former journalist.

Asked how it was for her to give up her own career and her long-distance relationship with Gauck, which went on for years, she said, “It is not a model that I would recommend to everyone. It is certainly nice to have an independent life.”

But she described her current circumstances as “a very special situation.

“I couldn't continue to do my job at the Nüremberger Zeitung and travel to Berlin on the weekends."

Schadt had also previously worked for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, the paper wrote.

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